First of
course there is the idea and the design. The posture, attitude and
emotion is so important in giving a sense of life to a piece, so when I
start on a piece I like to have that felt firmly in my body. Then let’s
put on the music…something with a bit of rhythm that will get the hips
swaying.

LEFT: This piece was commissioned
by an Antarctic biologist who wanted to celebrate not just his time in
the Antarctic studying the Adelie penguin, but also the courage and
vitality of the women he had worked with.

For my
large caricature figures with curvy postures and flinging arms I use
Keans White Raku clay and build very slowly over about 6 - 8 weeks,
often using scaffolding to prop up gradually growing arms… putting
skewers through the body to hold things in place. I usually coil build
the dress to the hips in a fairly uniform volcano shape, not worrying
too much on getting it right.

I wait a
week or two and then when the clay is firmer put my arm right in it
(feeling like a vet putting his hand up a cow, I imagine) and work the
shape to get a sense of legs and movement. I make incisions in the sides
to cut away segments of clay and rejoin, helping me get the shape I am
after. I let the clay rest after such a big shock and the following week
I put a solid lump of clay on the hips to work on the upper body
posture. After this firms up a bit I hollow it out, using key hole
surgery. When I first started, I used coils for the upper body as well
as the base but then when adjusting the clay into the posture I found
that I was getting trapped airholes…so new approach.

I have 3 potters wheels in my studio
which I use mainly as lazy susans... helps to coil build very fast.

Sometimes
when I put the upper body on, or head I discover that the proportions
have got out of hand. Then it is sit back and work out where height
might be needed or greater angles generated and like a surgeon I make a
sweeping cut to the knees and remove the upper body, adding some more
coils to extend calves or thighs like those poor girls in China.

I have
learnt not to put the top part back on straight away as the new clay
sinks and squeezes under the weight. So patience is the name of the
game. Or perhaps like some ceramists I need an air gun. However, I like
not rushing a piece, as fresh eyes notice nuances that one doesn’t see
when totally focussed on the building aspects.

When you compare the photo on the
left with the one below you can see how after I have built on her torso
I went back and bent the dress at the knees (using the technique of
careful thumping) giving her a greater sense of movement.

Some
pieces come together very quickly and have just the right zest and
attitude that I want and others seem to elude me. It is then working on
the tilt of the shoulder, the angle of the head, the gesture of the hand
or elongating the body until this lump of clay seems like a person. Wet
towels are the ceramicist’s friend when clay has become a little too
immovable! As the clay dries I continue to work it, smoothing and
sculpting to improve the shape and the finish.

I bisque
fire very slowly, giving it a day at very low temperatures, before
putting the kiln up regularly over the next day and a half. After bisque
firing I reconnect broken bits and pieces (as necessary) with Selley’s
multigrip glue or Arildite (for extra strength), add polyfiller
(sometimes with Aquadeer if I need the strength) to holes or cracks, and
sand.

I don’t seem to get any blow ups now, after I ensure I have holes
to any enclosed spaces (eg. holes in the nostrils to the head) but
accidents do happen and a finger might be bumped off or bits broken off
the bottom in the putting into the kiln. Gnash the teeth at this, but
thank god for glue.

I then
paint with acrylic and varnish to various sheens. I find that the
acrylic paint gives me a lot more control over colour and enables me to
paint over things when I stuff up my design… something I wouldn’t get
away with if I used under-glazes.

Then there is shopping at the Bead
Shop for earings and Spotlight for the carefully matched felt for the
base, or the fabric and other accessories that a woman just has to have.

But it
doesn’t stop there. Each woman needs a story… so using Publisher I put
together words and pictures to make inviting brochures so the audience
can explore if they wish the story of these lovely ladies.